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Chicken 3 1/2 ways

I recently obtained several real chickens from my heros at Nature’s Harmony Farm. I was totally excited because I haven’t had chicken in 2+ years (if you missed why, read here.) What I didn’t know is how many different ways this chicken would display herself…

The first night after the 4.9 lb bird was thawed I dressed it simply with salt, pepper, lemon and rosemary (from my back porch), and roasted it in the oven. I didn’t take any pictures because I didn’t think a roasted chicken was blog worthy. I was wrong. Anywho, the chicken turned out well, moist and flavorful, and Bill and I feasted on it along with rice grits and pea gravy. Yum!

Chicken soup

There was a TON leftover. And since not only was it a pricey real chicken (because of how it is raised) and quite tasty I knew it would be reincarniated a time or two. I hate to disrespect an animal that lost its life so I could eat by letting it go to waste. And so, the second incarnation appeared the next night as chicken soup.

It was a very simple fly by the seat of my pants recipe. I used a mirepoix (onion, carrot and celery), butter, salt and pepper, vegetable broth, bow tie pasta and shredded chicken followed by fresh thyme. It was super yummy! Even test subject Bill, not a huge soup lover, approved. Local ingredients: onion, celery, thyme (grown on my back porch again) and of course, chicken.

Pot Pie out of the oven

The soup didn’t use nearly enough bird. I had a good four cups of shredded chicken left. In a flash of brilliance, Bill suggested chicken pot pie. At first I was like uh…what? I’ve never made a chicken pot pie. I haven’t eaten a chicken pot pie in about 20 years. And I’ve never made a pie of any sort on my own. Lucky for him, that intrigued me.

I came up with this pot pie recipe from my favorite allrecipes.com site. It got good reviews so I decided to go for it, including the from-scratch crust. I’d always been intimidated for some reason by homemade crust. It seemed mysterious. Difficult. But after making this one (I subbed butter for the lard, btw) I will never be caught buying premade crust again. It was so easy and suuuper tasty. In fact, I may intervene if I see someone buying crust in the store. (“What do you think you’re doing with that cardboard??”) I mean, you mash together the ingredients, rest in the fridge, then roll it out. What is the problem??

Plated pot pie

Anyway my crust phobia resolved, I followed the recipe pretty closely for the filling. It made a freaking ton of filling, way too much for one crust recipe. (Not to worry. I kept the leftover filling to serve over leftover rice grits.) I was so proud of that pie when I pulled it out of the oven. It was golden brown and delicious on top and warm and savory on the inside. Next time I will likely add garlic and herbs, but even plain jane as is it was worth the effort.

Gratuitous pot pie photo.

Test subject Bill was pleased with his chicken pot pie. However, he thought the crust was very tasty but a bit tough…I think he was refering to the bottom part of the crust (which I pre-baked before filling to prevent soggy crust). I didn’t have a problem with it but not sure what to adjust to meet his approval for texture…any suggestions are welcome!

Chicken not pie over rice grits.

A single chicken turned into an adventure. 1. Roasted rosemary and lemon chicken. 2. Chicken soup. 3. Chicken pot pie. 3 1/2. Pot pie filling over rice grits. I think I did right by the bird.

I’m going to take back what I said about it being pricey. So far, Bill and I have eaten a total of 13 meals between the two of us. At an average price of $18 per bird that’s $1.38 per meal for meat, and we STILL have leftovers, enough for 3-5 meals (I love my freezer). KFC can kiss my organic free range bootie.

Awesome! I found the same thing with Natures Harmony Duck. It seems pricey, but we got over 3 meals from a small bird plus had duck fat for pates and stir fry. A little flavor goes a long way! Your photos are lovely. What camera do you use? I am making my own mayonnaise today to feature with the chicken salad I’ll make with my CSA chicken. Not sure whether to use the Cornish X or the Poulin Rouge. What do you think?
So happy to meet you yesterday.
BTW, Food Inc and Fresh:the Movie were both awesome. Food Inc delineates what is wrong with the industrial model and FRESH shows people doing it right. They complement each other perfectly.

I have a Casio 7.2 mega pixels. I think the model number is EX-Z750. It’s several years old now but we love it!

Cool about the mayo – I haven’t done that yet but it’s on my list. I think the breasts are larger on the Cornish X so maybe that will be better with chicken salad (unless you prefer more dark meat in the salad). Who knows though – I’m sure either one would be fantastic! 🙂

[…] of puff pastry. I think if I attempt this again I’ll make my pie crust dough like I use for chicken pot pie. I think that will be much tastier, and the addition of a simple gravy would also help this one […]